put down deep roots

It is no coincidence that Psalm 1 is number 1. God put it there as an introduction, it is the basis of all the others, and I suspect that there will be someone here who has it memorized, I don't know. "Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of evil, nor has he been in the way of sinners, nor has he sat on the seat of mockers, but who delights in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. It will be like a tree planted next to streams of water, which bears its fruit in its season and its leaf does not fall, everything he does will prosper."

"Not so the wicked who are like the chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore, the wicked will not rise in the judgment, nor sinners in the Congregation of the just, for the Lord knows the way of the just, but the path of the wicked will perish." Thank God for His Word.

Some have memorized and meditated on this Psalm. Do you know there's someone else who did it? His name is Prophet Jeremiah, who lived in very dark times, times of much sin everywhere; idolatry in the very House of God, sexual immorality everywhere, there was violence, abuse of the poor. And Jeremiah was called to preach a not very popular Word to the people.

He was called to preach to the people that they had to submit to their enemies, Babylon as a punishment from God, who wants to listen to that, right? Brothers, let's surrender! who wants to hear that? who wants to say amen to that? But that was the message, because they were in sin and they had to surrender to it. So he was branded a sellout, right? Sellout is the word, right? traitors.

"You hate God, you hate us, you hate the country, how can you preach that we have to submit to our enemies? Jeremiah says: good because it is God's punishment against you. They say: no, God with us He says: God is with you if you are with Him but you are against Him so submit, 70 years is nothing, then they can come back. Nobody wanted to hear about it, right? He was a very rejected man, lonely.

One day they took Jeremiah and put him in a well, a cistern, ugly, with mud there, ugly, he almost drowned there. His brothers, his friends conspired against him. He was beaten with rods, he was a single man. He is called the weeping prophet because he was very sensitive and cried for the people. The Book of Jeremiah is full of conversations between Jeremiah and Jehovah. He says: Lord, why? I am preaching a message that I do not want to preach, everyone hates me, why? And God says: Look, I am with you, if you have run with men and they have exhausted you, how are you going to run with the horses? look, I know what I'm doing, and Jeremiah: look, I'm not sure you know what. Lots of dialogue.

Jeremiah was a man with an intimacy with God and I think he meditated a lot on Psalm 1 because it shows in his prayers, it shows in his prophecies. So we come to Jeremiah chapter 17, Jeremiah 17 and we're going to read another version of this prophesied Psalm. When the Word of God is in you, then sometimes God takes this Word and puts it into prophecy that you give to people, so it's the memorized Word but then God takes it and gives it to people in another way. That was what happened with Jeremiah here.

Jeremiah 17 verse 5, Jeremiah 17:5, nice to hear pages. Others have their phone, that's ok too but it's nice to carry the Bible too, right? whatever, it's okay too. If you have the Bible on your phone, it's better because you always carry it, thank God. Verse 5: "Thus Saith the Lord" Verse 5 Jeremiah 17, "Thus says the Lord: Cursed is the man who trusts in man and puts flesh on his arm, and his heart turns away from the Lord; he shall be like the broom in the wilderness and he will not see when good comes, but will dwell in the aridity, in the desert, in a depopulated and uninhabited land.Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord, for he will be like the tree planted by the waters, which next to the stream it will put down its roots, and it will not see when the heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and in the year of drought it will not wither or stop bearing fruit."

"Deceitful is the heart more than all things and perverse, who can know it? I Jehovah who searches the mind, who tests the heart to give to each one according to his way, according to the fruit of his works." Thank you Lord for Your prophetic Word. It is that Jeremiah had internalized this Word.

In the first Psalm, the just man is compared to a tree planted next to streams of water, and the wicked or rebellious man against God is compared to the chaff that is later like the lightness of wheat, after being barley, right? and under the wind it does not last. The tree lasts, hundreds of years lasts, the chaff goes fast. Here in Jeremiah it is a little different. The just man is compared again to a tree with roots that go deep, the man who trusts in man is compared to a tree that has no depth, to a bush that has not very deep roots. When the drought comes it dries up fast. What kind of people will we be? What lifestyle are we going to choose?

I thank God because I know a lot of green people, thank God. I don't know if this is a bad thing in Spanish, oh but he is very green! I don't know, it just sounds bad, is it bad? is it an insult? I hope it's not. Green is rich. Here is something nice, it is something good, isn't it? green.

There is a life, a life that springs from people who have roots and that is what we are going to talk about. I thank God because not a day goes by, and I tell him seriously, that I don't know someone and I see the fruit of his life, I see his green leaf. Living people who shouldn't be alive. Marriages together and flourishing that wow! It's a miracle they're like this. People that one would think would be out of everything but they are alive and kicking, alive and moving with energy, new life. The enemy has come to steal, kill and destroy but Jesus has come so that we may have life, and life in abundance, and it is that life that we are talking about today.

Now, to have a life like that, you have to resist the influence of what is around you. The difference between the chaff, the broom and the tree, and the person who follows God is what is the influence in one's life? If one is formed by what is around or one is formed by another source of power that does not depend on circumstances, right?

It says here: "Blessed is the man who has not been in the advice of evil" look at how the Psalm goes, "who has not been in the advice of evil, nor has he been in the way of sinners, nor has he sat in a seat of mockers." Is the progression noticeable? It goes from walking, to standing, to sitting, right?

I said it that way with the young people one day. There is a difference between walking on certain streets and hearing certain things. It's something very different to stop on the corner and start chatting with a person every day. It's something even more different when you have a place reserved on the stairs of a certain place and it's your place, it's your chair for I don't know what, right? scary, I don't know.

There is a difference, there is a progression of being less and less vital, less and less active, more and more established in evil, it is a downward progression. In contrast, the person who meditates on the Word of God also becomes more firm every day, a firm tree, but the difference is that it is not dead, it is a living difference; the tree is still growing. Although it does not move, the river is running every day, there are new nutrients and that is why that tree has new life all the time, there is a difference.

Start there. We talked first about the pressures that people have, pressures to adapt our lives to our environment. It begins with listening to or following the advice of evil, listening to advice from evil and walking in it. I don't know if some of you here have a friend who gives you bad advice, right? and you can't look at your wife next door ok? (laughs)

You say we have to turn here and we got lost, bad advice! There are friends who give bad advice, right? A young man tempted to have, there is a girlfriend that he is dating and then there is another girl who is interested in him, and he doesn't know what to do. And he talks to dad, and dad tells him: well, you're a man, you won the lottery, what's up? No? bad advice, then life becomes complicated and one gets into trouble with God, and one does not want to be in trouble with God.

There are some people who, as much as we love them, should not pay attention to them because they are not going to point us in a healthy direction. And we know that some advice is contagious, right? they are contagious. Do you sometimes hear someone complain about something, complain about the authorities, the boss or gossip about someone and you listen to that, and then you catch their attitude? And you start to think: yes, I'm upset too, everything is bad here. You were fine before. There are some people we know who look at that attitude and say, look, I don't want it to rub off on me; that he is there alone because, I don't know (laughs).

I remember a very handsome man, he had come out of the streets, from street life, very strong, right? And he became a man of God, a tree of truth, a determined son of God. You were about to get married, weren't you? and I saw him here at the barber here, where he trims himself the day before his wedding. And a friend of his came in who was talking about things, right? And I could feel that he was looking straight into the mirror, and me saying: I don't even look at him, I love my friend but I have more important things to do, right? Bad tips. You must take care.

Then it says that we should not stop or be on the way of sinners, in English it is: don't stand in the way of sinners. It is where you put yourself, certain environments, certain situations where you are that do not lead to anything good. It's called in English: to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, I don't know if some have had that experience of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, right? that there is nothing good here.

Now, Jesus was going to ugly places, right? Jesus went with the drinkers and prostitutes, and he "hanged out" with them. But it was He who had influence on them and not they on Him, right? We talked about it in the English service. There is a famous preacher, Charles Spurgeon, that if someone comes and I'm up here, and Pastor Sam comes, and I say: I'm going to pull you up here with one arm, I think I can do it but I'm not very realistic. But if he wanted to pull me down, it doesn't take much, does it? it wouldn't take much and wow! for the floor

God has called us to have influence and we are going to talk about it, and we cannot have influence if we live in a monastery, in a hidden place; we have to be in the world but not of the world. Being in the world but it shows that you are different, right? Does it show that you are a Christian in your workplace? the people knows?

I think about it, I rejoice when I find. The other day I was going to a place to have them make me, I bought the jeans from a store to have them make me, and there they make the hem, I don't know the word, for a peso they shorten your pants. And I went to that store and I say: ok, when are they going to be ready? a week, and the girls looked and said: oh, it will be ready tomorrow, and it will be perfect, and I say: wow, they say: there is a lady who does it that she does everything well and very nice so don't worry , tomorrow and perfect. And after a month or two a sister from our Church comes up to me and says: did you like the pants? and it was a sister from our Church who made the pants in that store. And I felt: thank you Lord! because he is giving testimony, right? is giving testimony.

There are pressures, pressures when we are in a certain environment to conform, environments where the least thing is fear of God, right? There are jobs where if you make an effort, you don't look good with others who don't want to work, right? And I'm not talking about that you're going to be like Joseph in the Bible that you're going to go and report to others, no, I'm not talking about that, but that our testimony, how will it be?

Another testimony: a brother that I met here after a long time, I had not met him because he was the husband of a sister and he was a leader in another Church, that's why he didn't come and he came, and then my wife says: ah, it's so-and-so, don't tell me! because he works in the hospital with my wife, he cleans at night and she talks to him. And she says: I knew there was something different about him, I knew he was a Christian because there was always joy in his life, always a warm and appropriate greeting, and cute. I knew that he was a child of God, fragrance of Christ in his life.

And it's not that we're perfect, mind you, right? nobody wants someone fake, someone who always seems perfect and never has problems, this is not going to win anyone because it is a lie right? Jesus says: "In the world you will have problems, but take courage in your heart because I have overcome the world." We can experience problems but still be transparent with people appropriately. But there are going to be other powers that act in our lives.

We can be different. The salt of the world, right? if the salt tastes like the food is useless, you have to salt the food. We have to be spicy, different. One more testimony, okay? one more testimony. This morning I was praying in the Harrison building. I come very early and sit in one of those rooms on the third floor with the window facing the street. Do you know which rooms I'm talking about? you know, quiet, resting before worship, and sometimes I see things happen in the street.

And I saw a brother from our Church, and I talked to him about it, and he stopped to talk to someone, and I thought: oh, oh! is he on the way of sinners? (laughs) no, nothing to do. But he was there and I could feel that this new brother, mind you, new, he's only two months old, and I could feel in his body language that he was having an influence on this man. I even saw the Bible move a little (laughs) it's not that we have to hit people with the Bible, please, we're not going to win anyone like that. But I could feel that he was having a good influence.

A man like that who does not listen to the advice of evil nor is he on the path of sinners, is in the world but because he has roots he can have influence on them and not they on him, amen? ok, lots of testimonials, lots of testimonials. But the thing is, the heart is deceitful, more than all things, we deceive ourselves. The tricky thing about cheating is that you don't know you're being cheated, right? If someone is being deceived and you tell them: look, you're deceived, it's not true, if someone is deceived they say: now you're deceiving me that I'm deceived, right? it's complicated.

There are siren voices, those voices that call us and get complicated in the heart if we let in bad advice and the influence of people who go in another direction enter within us. I want to hang out with men and women who help me put down my roots deeper. It's one thing to love everyone, we must receive everyone but who are you going to let into your trust, right? Who are you going to let influence you? because we infect each other.

What we do not want is to end up being seated in the chair of mockers. I searched for that word: mocking. I don't listen to her much. Can she be heard in conversation? okay. It has to do with mockery, I looked in Proverbs: mocker, is someone who mocks authority, mocks God, mocks what is good and has that attitude of arrogance: I am better than them, what things ! they still believe in God, they still serve that mockery, that arrogance. And they are compared to a chair, because when you are in that attitude you are not vital, you are separated from life and you end up losing energy and vitality, and you end up being, I don't know, someone who is not going anywhere.

I was looking in ancient Hebrew for what a mockers chair is, thinking that perhaps there is a historical background to that, and I finally found some drawings that existed in the ancient world of the mockers' chair (laughs), and there is a very important phrase that It's called: couch potato, have you ever heard couch potato? sofa dad, I don't know if it's good in Spanish, someone who already sits so much loses vitality, no longer goes anywhere. Ok, I had to say in the morning: please tonight, if the husband wants to watch a program on television, ok, that's enough sorry, I'm to blame for that but, let's go to the tree.

If the husband sits down to watch the game tonight and doesn't want his wife to come in, he's a couch potato as Pastor Gregory said, but they're going to tell me you can't! I have to say that because I don't want my own house to go wrong, right? (laughs). What we are saying is that you lose energy when you allow yourself to be influenced more by your environment.

But there is another power that works in us. If we are willing we can draw new strength from God by resisting the pressures around us. There is a power that is stronger than any lie of Satan, there is a power that is stronger than the dissolutions of life, there is a power that can save marriages that seem already dead, in life support. There is a power that can breathe new life into those marriages. There is a power that can help our children and young people say no to sin and yes to God and a healthy life, there is power. But that power is not automatic, you have to look for it.

The tree does not become a tree overnight, it is a long process of many years of putting down deep roots in the earth, and it also depends on where that tree is planted, right? I think about where to stand. Before joining this Church I observed the Pastor, the brothers of the Church and I think, do I want to be like them one day? Because if I join, if I stand on that land I want to be sure that the land is close to the flowing river of God's Power, right? well that is a separate matter, but you have to think about where you are planted; if you are in a situation where you can put down deep roots in the Word of God. I love that it says that in the law of Jehovah is his delight.

Know what? You guys are blessed to speak Spanish because English just doesn't do it here, in English: "His delight is in the law of the Lord" that's very nice, but it doesn't say that: "His delight is in the law of Jehovah." " This indicates relishing the Word of God, eating the Word of God. Look what Jeremiah does, he says praying, Jeremiah 15, he says in verse 16 of Jeremiah 15, he says: "Your Words were found and I ate them, and Your Word was for my joy, and for the gladness of my heart, because Your Name was called upon me." O Jehovah, God of Hosts, eat of the Word of God.

Know what? the Word of God is the tastiest spiritual, intellectual, emotional food you can eat, right? It's like that, it's tasty. But it's a taste what they call in English, an acquired taste, it's an acquired taste. One does not automatically want to eat the Word of God, one must learn to like and enjoy the Word, amen, do you understand me? There are certain foods that are not tasty the first time you eat them, right? vegetables, right? some things. Now, I've acquired a taste for seaweed, I don't know the word, that green plant from the sea, right? Amen, dawn, dawn! (laughs) I have acquired a taste for it (seaweed) because I ate it a lot and now I like it. I spoke in the morning: I like raw fish with wasabi, now my Japanese wife and I like it more than she likes it.

What do you do to acquire the taste? you eat it a lot, a lot, a lot and over time you say: wow, now I like it, now I want it. It is so with the Word of God. At first when you start to get into the Word, you take the Bible off the shelf; we are very well to leave it open, so that good luck comes to us, right? the good vibes, but dust if off and just read it right? you have to read it. And you start with the Psalms, the Proverbs, a gospel, Mark, Luke, John, Matthew, and you start reading, and at first you don't understand so much, but the roots to grow have to be pushed into the ground, it's going to take time. .

You have to meditate on the Word, chew the Word, ingest the Word. That the verses they read do not enter here and come out here, but rather the verses are here and you let them go down to the heart. In discipleship some sisters spoke like this: when I meditate on a Psalm I let myself be carried away by the Psalm. It is as if it were a ship of the sea that leads to beautiful things and I get lost in the Psalm, I make my own Psalm. Many of us think that to meditate is to become like the Hindu, the yogi becomes and meditates. Do you know what I am talking about? I'm not recommending that, am I?

The idea of that meditation is to empty the brain, empty the mind, empty the being. The idea of Christian, Judeo-Christian meditation is not to empty oneself, it is to fill oneself with the Word of God, it is completely, it is very different. It has in common that you calm down for a while, this is something nice, isn't it? go to a quiet place, put on that little music, breathe and take ten minutes that I'm just going to let myself be carried away by the Psalm, it's very nice. I did it before coming here.

When you meditate you have to memorize the verse, right? and to memorize it, what do you have to do? you have to repeat it and read it, repeat it. So when the Hebrews talked about meditation they used the word: murmuring because they were talking, right? Jehovah is my Shepherd, I will lack nothing, in places of delicate pastures he will make me rest; It's like I'm repeating it, not like a mantra but I'm letting it enter my mind, my heart, my being, right? I don't know if there are some who talk to each other when there's no other person around, right? and they think you're half crazy, right? because you talk to yourself

I am a verbal processor, I do it a lot and those who listen to me from another room sometimes do it to find out what's on my mind, right? But, it is that you have to repeat the Word of God, sometimes out loud until you have a short verse memorized and let it enter your heart, meditate on the Word and walk in the Word. Start with it.

Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things" that's an easy one right? Philippians 4:13, was my first verse in Spanish. You have the verse and you are repeating it during the day, the Puritans spoke it like that. When you have the verse memorized there it's almost like you're walking with the verse through the day isn't it? you do your things but you are thinking: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" and then, it is as if you were walking next door, and then you meet someone when you are with a friend, and you stop talking to the friend for a while. moment, you greet the person and then you walk again, and you return to your conversation with your friend. This is how to meditate on the Word.

It is a verse that accompanies you during the day, it is a private, interior dialogue only between you and God who is always running. How beautiful, it's the soundtrack of your life, it's the music inside you, and you have this verse there, and it helps you do your things: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." And then you're in a conversation with someone, and they're sharing a problem with you, and you say, well, you know what? I know that you can do everything through Christ who strengthens you, he says: where did that come from? and you: I was in my mind, meditating on the verse, putting down deep roots in the Word and drawing life from it.

That Word has power. It's more than studying, it's more than reading. The Word of God is alive and effective, says the Word, penetrating, it has life of its own. It's like taking a life-giving vitamin inside your mind, your brain, your heart, your emotions. That is why we put so much Word in our children in our Church, have you noticed? If they go to I wanna Friday night what do we do? we force them to memorize verses, tuck verses into them. Even if you don't believe it, even if you don't want to, we are going to put verses in you. And then on Sunday they study the Word, the overview, the history of the Bible, it's excellent, they learn a lot, mind you. The children learn more than us, I am ashamed with my discipleship, those children are coming out with a lot of Word within them.

And I want that because when they are fourteen and have a little friend, the council of bad guys is saying: look, we're going over there, we're going to do something like that, there's another voice that they're going to listen to. The Voice of the Good Shepherd that speaks to them through these verses, that tells them: no, there is another way, there is another path.

Brothers: the pressures we are experiencing are strong, they are strong. There are going to be times when we have to put ourselves alone against the whole world, right? There are some who even have to lose jobs because of their faith in the Word of God. Jeremiah said so when he thought about it, he said in Jeremiah 15 verse 17 after his words went there, he says in verse 17, "I did not sit in the company of scoffers, nor was I puffed up because of Your prophecy, I sat just because you filled me with indignation."

There are times when we have to stand firm and even be alone, and thus separate ourselves to know that there is someone who is with me. Even if everyone says something else, there is another voice, I have, what is that instrument doing that points you to the north? compass, compass, I have a compass inside that tells me where to go; It doesn't matter if I feel lost, there is something inside of me that points me to where I have to go: the Word of God. And once you start to like the Word of God, you become addicted to it, because it really is good, right?

In Psalm 19 he says the following about the Word, Psalm 19: "The law of the Lord is perfect, it converts the soul. The testimony of the Lord is faithful, it makes the simple wise. When I don't know what to do, when I find myself in trouble and I am confused, and I do not see the right way, the Word of God is like a voice behind me that tells me: this is the way, walk in it. It says: "The commandments of the Lord are right, they make the heart glad; it is pure, it enlightens the eyes." I see people who have a light in them and I know that it is not them, it is the Word of God that is in them.

Then it says further on, verse 10 of Psalm 19: "They are more desirable than gold." Is there anyone here who likes gold? more than much refined gold. Is there anyone here who likes to find a $20 bill on the street? Finding something nice in the Bible is like winning the lottery. It says that: "They are desirable and sweet, more than honey, which distills from the honeycomb." It tastes sweet, it tastes like sweet rice. It tastes like a good flan, an alfajor, a dulce de leche, a donkey donut, better because it's something that tastes good once I've learned to taste it. God's Word is good, it's my sword to fight when I'm under attack, it's something firm to hold on to when everything else moves. The Word is my hiding place, it is the power of your life.

Brothers: we want to put down deep roots and it's going to cost us, mind you. We are going to need power because society is going from bad to worse. The teachings of this world do not go by the Word of God in what is normal, what is good and only goes from bad to worse, and there are many churches that adjust to what society says, and do not affirm themselves to the God's word. If we want to survive as a Church and be the Church that we have to be, we are going to have to get a little cheeky with the Word of God, right? this is a Biblical Word, did you know this?

Nerve. This is normally not a good thing, I understand, right? but in the Bible it was a good thing for the prophet Ezekiel. He had to preach a harsh Word and God said, "For all the house of Israel is hard-fronted, stubborn in heart, but I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads; as the diamond. Stronger than flint I have made your forehead. Do not fear or be afraid before them for they are a rebellious house."

We are going to have to be very determined in what we believe, right? We're going to have to be firm. Even if they look at you badly and think badly of you, but for the right reasons, right? not because we do not bear witness, but with humility, with grace, with firmness. We do not have to seek to be loved by everyone, we have to seek to be faithful to the only one that matters, to have roots that go down to the ground, firm.

The beauty of this tree is that it is a tree that remains strong even in times of drought. Knows? I as a Pastor sometimes hear many problems, and I said this morning: I would like to help in ways that I cannot. Sometimes I would like to be a doctor to prescribe medicine or to be a social worker and to be able to solve things, and I thank God for Christian social workers, Christian doctors; psychologists, I know I'm not a psychologist, but I know that what I have is worth it, right? What we have here to give is only one thing, it is the Word of God. It is bread, bread of life.

It will not always be tasty bread, it will not always be attractive bread, but it is bread that heals, bread that gives vitality, that does marvelous things. I have learned to never, never underestimate the power of a person who has that bread inside, right? As I said at the beginning, there are people who should already be dead and buried who are here giving glory to God and jumping because they have the Word of God inside them. There are people who are new.

I see that especially in old people who have walked with God through many years, many struggles, many problems but trust in the Word of God, and at the end of their lives even though their bodies are wearing out they are green in Christ; there is a life in his eyes that is like Caleb's, who says: I am more vigorous than when I was twenty, let me attack.